Sleepless
by rawritscasey
Summary: "Those words cut through Clare like glass. What if Eli and her didn't work out. They were complete opposites. They were completely wrong, yet completely right for each other at the same time. But would they last? Clare didn't know." ECLARE one-shot


**A/N**: So, I really like writing these one-shots of Eclare. I have tons of ideas for stories. But don't worry, I will not be neglecting** Mess of Me**, which I plan to continue working on for a while. So, this is one that I have been thinking abut doing for a long time, but I never wrote it down. So I really hope you love it!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the glory that is Degrassi, just the stories that I write.

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_sleepless_

**xx**

_Just keep a hold of me  
__Don't let go  
__If you float away  
__Waiting too long  
__For a ship to come  
__Don't you float away_

The voice of Kenny Vasoli could not lull Clare Edwards to sleep. Nothing seemed to be able to make her sleep these days. She had laid awake for many, many nights, thinking about endless thoughts; mostly about her parents. They fought deep into the night, which kept Clare awake. She could not stand her parents fighting. She had tried everything: Eli's headphones, shoving her head under her pillow the whole night, her own headphones, and even sleeping pills. But even those failed her.

She was now immune to sleep.

Clare lay awake in her bed on a cool November night on a Friday. Her white headphones were stuck in her ears; they were shoved in as far as they could go in an attempt to drown out the yelling. But, of course, that also did no good. She was probably deafening herself, so she was doing even more harm by doing that.

Clare let out an exasperated sigh and ripped her ear buds out. She didn't care if it hurt. She lifted her iPod and pressed pause on the song that was currently playing on shuffle: Island by _The Starting Line_. She held down the pause/play button to turn the device off, saving the power for another time.

She coiled the headphones around her iPod and set it down on the nightstand by her bed.

"Randall, this discussion is over! You've changed! You're not the person I fell in love with anymore!" Clare's mother yelled from downstairs. Clare groaned and smashed her face into her pillow.

"Helen, people change! You have to learn to accept those changes. If not, then maybe you're not who I thought you were!" her father retorted. Clare wanted to scream for them to shut up, but she knew it would only make it worse. It always got worse when Clare got involved in one of their fights.

Her parents had told her that they were trying to work it out, and by saying that, they agreed to spend one night together at their home per week. The rest of the nights were spent, by one of them, at the condo they also shared. She wanted, more than anything, for her parents to get along and for her life to fall back into place. But the world had other plans for Clare.

A single tear escape from the corner of her eye and she quickly wiped it away, willing herself not to cry. It was times like these when she wished her sister, Darcy, was back home with her and not in Africa. Clare and Darcy may be opposites, but they always knew what to say to each other to make them feel better. She wished she could go into Darcy's room and curl up next to her sister and sleep. But she knew she couldn't. And that scared her.

Clare had next to no one to be with her in these times.

"We're just too different, Randall. We always have been. You take too make risks and I like stability. We just can't mix!" her mother stated. That statement scared Clare even more. That sounded a lot like the relationship Eli and she had. He took the risks and she liked safety. Sure, she took a couple risks while in this relationship, but still.

She didn't want Eli and herself to end up like her parents. She wanted to stay with Eli forever, however long that may be. She loved Eli, she was sure of it. She wanted nothing but to spend the rest of her life gazing into his dazzling emerald eyes. But the thought of Eli and her fighting like her parents scared the crap out of Clare.

Her breathing began to pick up some pace and she gripped her sheets as her heartbeat raised. Clare began to sweat, which was weird because she was wearing her black silk sleep shorts and Eli's green Dead Hand tee-shirt he had given her as a token of his appreciation for Clare being his girlfriend.

"I should have known from the start that we would never work!" her father bellowed. Those words cut through Clare like glass. What if Eli and her didn't work out. They were complete opposites. They were completely wrong, yet completely right for each other at the same time. But would they last? Clare didn't know. This was the first time the Clare had any doubts about her relationship with Eli. Real doubts. The thing with Fitz was not as big as this was to Clare.

She shot up, sitting completely upright in her bed. She knew what she wanted to do at the very moment; what she _had _to do, to ease the pain she felt. There was one person she could talk to about this.

Clare swung her legs over the sit of her bed and stumbled over to her closet in the darkness. She fumbled around with her hands until they found her red sneakers. She slipped them onto her feet and then she searched once again. She found her jean jacket and shoved her arms into the sleeves.

She crossed her room and stood in front of her window. She unlocked it and pulled it up, letting in a chilling breeze. Clare shivered slightly, but she ignored it. She popped her screen out of place the set it inside her room, under her bed. Then she went back over to her night stand and took her phone and put it in the pocket of her jean jacket.

She took a deep breath and crawled out of her room and onto the roof. She turned back around and closed the window behind her. Then she slowly stood and cautiously stepped toward the edge of the roof. It was about an 8 foot drop from where she was. Clare contemplated whether she should jump, or find some other way. It was just then that she spotted a tree at the right side of her house that she could climb down. She made her way to the tree and grabbed one of the branches.

'Here goes nothing,' Clare thought. She took a deep breath and swung from her roof and clung to the tree. The bark was slicing up the insides of her thighs pretty good, but she ignored the pain. She shimmied her way down the trunk and planted her feet onto the ground.

She stood there for a second, wondering if she, Saint Clare, was really doing what she was doing. Was she really sneaking out of her home at midnight to go see her boyfriend? Clare contemplated this and a wicked smile spread across her face.

_Hell yes, she was doing this._

Clare broke out into a jog on her sidewalk. Eli's house was not very far from her home, but it wasn't all too close either. Clare kept on jogging through the night, picking up the pace when she reached his street. She started sprinting when she reached his driveway, finding Morty in his usual spot. She stopped running and leaned over to catch her breath. Her hand leaned onto Morty and she heaved her breaths in and out. She had never run that fast in her life. She didn't exactly know why she ran as fast as she did. Maybe she wanted to get there as soon as possible.

Clare picked her hand off of Morty and she strode over to where Eli's bedroom window was. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, dialing Eli's number and praying to God that he would answer.

"Hello?" a tired voice greeted her through the phone. God had answered her prayers!

"Eli, look out your window," she told him. He groaned.

"What are you talking about Clare. What's going on?" he asked her, sounding both tired and concerned.

"Please, Eli, just look out the window," she pleaded. She heard his bed shifting from under him.

"What are you up to, Edwards?" he asked. Just then, the blinds to Eli's room opened up and he saw her standing in his front yard. She gave him a weak smile and waved at him.

"I'll be right out," he told her and hung up.

Clare waiting for a moment before the front door to Eli's house opened and Eli himself emerged, wearing black boxers and a white v-neck tee. His bed head was sticking up every which way and made Clare giggle weakly.

It was then the Clare realized that she had been crying the entire run to his house. She rushed up to her boyfriend and caught him in a tight hug.

"Whoa, what's wrong, Clare?" Eli asked, noticing she was crying. He wrapped his arms around her trembling body and held her close to him. Clare clung to Eli like her life depended on it, and maybe it did.

"I'm scared that we're not going to last," she choked out. Clare's tears were soaking through his shirt. Eli stroked her tangled curls.

"What gave you that idea?" he asked her.

"My parents. They are just like us. They're so different and that's why they're separating. I'm just scared for us," she sobbed into his chest. It broke his heart to see Clare like this.

"Hey, hey," Eli said, pulling Clare from his chest and tilting her chin up to look at him. But when he got a look at her bloodshot eyes and tears stained cheeks up close, he almost lost it. He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat and continued.

"Hey, come on, Clare. We are not going to turn out like your parents. I promise," he comforted her. She sniffed and stared back at him.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Because, yes, we are different. But I couldn't stand to be with someone who was exactly like me. It's one of the many, many reasons that I love you. You hear that? I love you, and nothing in the world is going to change that," he admitted to her. Clare was dumbfounded. This was the most romantic thing that had ever come from Eli's lips.

"Really? Do you really mean that, Eli?" Clare asked him, clutching his shirt in her shaking hands.

"Of course, silly," he told her, brushing a stand of cinnamon hair from her face, "I love you," he leaned in and whispered in her ear. That sent shivers down her spine, and it wasn't because of the cold. Although, that might be part of the reason.

Eli then realized that Clare was shaking violently in his arms.

"Oh jeez, Clare, I've got to get you back home. It's freezing outside," he said. He was about to walk into his house to retrieve his keys but Clare put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Do you think I could stay with you tonight?" she asked him. Her eyes pleaded him.

"Why?" Eli asked cautiously, searching her face for a clue. But she was expressionless at the moment.

"My parents are fighting and I just don't want to got home right now," she told him. He hesitated, wondering if this might turn out to be a repeat of what had happened once before, when she had begged to sleep with him and he refuse. But she seemed to genuinely only want to sleep, which made him relieved.

"Of course you can," he told her. He took a step forward and rested his palm against her cheek, "You're always welcome at the Hotel Eli," he joked. That got a small smile from her.

"Now come on, you're freezing out here," he said, taking her hand and leading her inside his house. He shut the door behind them. She kicked off her shoes and shucked her jacket from her arms. He took the jacket and hung it in the hall closet. Then he took her hand once again and lead her though the hallways of his home to the door of his room.

The lock had been taken off of his door, since his hoarding problem was now under control. He pushed his door open and let Clare into his newly clean room. He closed the door behind them. Clare sat down on his bed.

"I can sleep on the couch if you want," he suggested, wondering if she was really comfortable with this.

"No, I want you in here with me," she told him. That was what he was hoping to hear.

He walked over to his bed and pushed the blanked down and patted the mattress.

"After you," he smirked. She smiled and bounced her way over to the far end of his bed. He laid down right next to her, their shoulders and arms touching. He pulled the blankets over their bodies.

She turned her head to face him. He did the same.

"I love you, Eli," she told him. She leaned over the kissed his cheek. Then she turned on her side and leaned her body against his left side. Her legs intertwined with his. Her left arm was draped across his chest. She drew circles with her finger on his chest.

"I love you too, Clare," he told her. He snaked his left arm around her shoulders and rested his hand on the top of her left arm. He breathed in the sent of her hair: shampoo and cool night air. The sent soon sent him to sleep. Clare looked up to see Eli's sleeping face. He looked so adorable.

Clare nuzzled her head into his chest and she closed her eyes.

Peaceful sleep found her for the first time in weeks.

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I though this was a dramatic, yet cute idea. So, what do you think? I plan to write more one-shots, 'cause their so much fun!

BTW, the song lyrics in the beginning are actually from the song Island by _The Starting Line_, which is also mentioned in the story but I thought that I'd clarify it directly.


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